Mohamed Bin Hammam stood down from the Fifa presidential election race to
prevent Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid campaign facing further
investigation by the world governing body, sources close to the process have
told Telegraph Sport.

Bin Hammam withdrew his challenge to Fifa president Sepp Blatter early on Sunday, hours before he was suspended pending an investigation into bribery allegations.

His withdrawal means Blatter will stand unopposed in Wednesday's election, but came only after discussions between Bin Hammam and the Emir of Qatar, who backed the bid with huge financial and diplomatic resources.

Qatar’s World Cup bid has been the subject of repeated corruption allegations, all denied. With Bin Hammam himself the subject of allegations that he offered $1 million in bribes to Caribbean football officials, there was concern in Qatar that Blatter and the Fifa executive might use the threat of an investigation into the bid as leverage against Bin Hammam.

Sources in the Bin Hammam camp have told Telegraph Sport that he sacrificed his personal ambition “in the national interest”.

Bin Hammam agreed to step down, but only reluctantly as, according to close confidants, he is deeply angered by what he feels is a politically-motivated campaign of dirty tricks against him.

The concern in Qatar is that the electoral politics could impact on Qatar’s success, which was achieved despite the objections of Blatter and the Fifa general secretary Jérôme Valcke.

Blatter had hoped bin Hammam would withdraw following a meeting between the Fifa president and the Crown Prince of Qatar on May 12. When he did not, Blatter’s camp became increasingly concerned at the president’s prospects of winning a fourth term.

Bin Hammam declined to comment on his reasons for withdrawal, but there is huge anger within his camp at recent events, which they believe are the product of an orchestrated campaign by Blatter and his allies to prevent him contesting the election.

“Blatter’s game plan from the start has been to prevent Mohamed getting to the ballot box on Wednesday,” said a Bin Hammam confidant. “They knew that if he did, then Bin Hammam would probably win, and until this week Blatter did not seem to have a ‘Plan B’.”

In his appeal document filed on Monday, Bin Hammam described the allegations as “paltry and phoney manoeuvre”, claiming: “It is obvious that the allegations have been submitted to discredit Mr Bin Hammam as a candidate for the forthcoming elections to the Fifa presidency.”

The Bin Hammam camp are convinced that he was in a strong position to win, with an estimated 70-80 votes assured in Africa and Asia, bringing the victory target of 105 into sight.

They insist that his popularity is the product of 20 years building relationships and he offered an alternative to Blatter, who they say after 13 years in the post has lost popularity.

With the Concacaf votes crucial to Bin Hammam’s chances of success, they claim that the visit to Trinidad to lobby the Caribbean Football Union was legitimate and justified, and that it could not have been held without the support of Jack Warner, the CFU president.

They also point to the absence of any evidence directly linking Bin Hammam to the $1 million bribe money.

Bin Hammam certainly retains allies within the Fifa executive committee, among them Egypt’s Hany Abu Rida and Jacques Anouma, of Ivory Coast, who have spent time with him at the Baur Au Lac Hotel, in Zurich, this week.

Blatter has denied any involvement in orchestrating the allegations against Bin Hammam, describing them as “ludicrous and completely reprehensible”.